Once Upon a Tokyo

OZ at Universal

Welcome to OZ!

Here's the newest area in USJ-- a whole "land" for the Wizard of Oz! As always, the themeing is exquisite and elaborate. As an Oz fan, I think they take too much of a visual cue from the movie, rather than the books, but I suppose that will always be the case because it's more "commerical" to do so.

So, what's the big ride in the Oz land? It's the Merry-Go-Round. Yes, that's right. The big attraction for the area is a carousel. All that hype and promotion for … a carousel?! Yeah, I guess so. I have to keep repeating "yeah, that's right," because I can hardly believe it myself. Granted, they do have to big shows-- an animal show and a mini-version of the musical Wicked. And a kiddie restaurant (how many puns on the word 'munchkins' can you get!) and some merch shops-- both of which weren't opened yet.

I wonder if the designers of the Wicked architecture had been to It's a Small World a lot?

This area is a complete make-over of the Western area of the park. Guess the American frontier is a hard sell for Japanese? Shrug. The only things that were here were a wild west stunt show and an "animal actors" stage, so it's pretty much just a re-themeing. But it also meant that their western restaurant is no more… Dang. They actually had some good barbeque. Not to many of those around this country, too.

BTW, there is a character and a book called "Merry-Go-Round in Oz." How obscure a trivia question is that!

And yes, that's right. This is their employee costume.

Morning Walk-through

How trippy-- here I was walking down the "Main Street" of the Park Entrance. Already it was full of guests, but I remembered it from the time when there was absolutely no one around-- all the employees were inside and running through the training manuals I helped so lovingly to create.

So I walked the perimeter of the park, just to revel in that weird nostalgia. How strange that I never really thought much about the park since I've been gone, but it was amazing how familiar it all was. I *love* the amount of themeing done to this park! Each area is realized in loving detail, and so fully captures the "feel" of New York, or San Fransicso, or New England, or a lush tropical island, etc. etc.

Except for several additions that happened since I was gone-- several tall, garish, and glaring additions. Behold, the obtrusive and visually-interfering lighting columns and floats used for the "Lagoon Show" (based on Peter Pan). And over there, the just-as-blatant pylons holding the "Hollywood Dream" jet coaster. Uh-gly.

That discomfort I mentioned earlier? This is when it started. As I walked through the park, I calculated the amount of time it would take to experience everything, factored in the annoyance that Jurassic Park was closed, and multiplied by the broken "themeing" of the area. The conclusion? USJ's winter hours leave much to be desired. Granted, some of that stuff was due to seasonal reasons-- the weather as well as reduced park hours-- but it still seemed distasteful. Perhaps there could be off-season price discounts since we are clearly getting less of an experience for no other reason than it being off-season?

I had a lot of time to reflect on this when in line for the Spider-Man ride, my first of the day, and which still had a 70 minute wait time. (This was before I realized the single rider line.) But, since I don't want two negative posts in a row, let me say this is the best ride in the world (although if you want to experience it in English, you have to go to Florida) and definitely worth a line like that. The 3-D film and the sound were excellent, and all the effects were top-notch. They don't skimp on the explosions, smoke or water effects! Yes!

Although their extended queue has some terrible themeing-- it's too deceptive, and the only thing to see are basically posters of the Spidey villains you'll be seeing. Dang it! There I am being critical again! Okay, maybe I'll be better tomorrow.

USJ-- Poor Price Policies

Well, I arrived at Universal's park entrance a little after 10 am. This was way late, according to my personal schedule, and I could have kicked myself for being so liesure about it-- especially as I thought that the park would open at 9. No worries, right? I mean, I know this park already, so there's no pressure to get around once inside it. Plus, if I was late, I would avoid the rush of everyone buying tickets on time. But lo and behold, the park actually opened at 10, and I was in the thick of everyone buying tickets on time. Hmmm. 

Which begins my round of negativity. :) Not only was the park opening at 10, but the park was closing at 8. So that's about 10 hours with which to enjoy the park. But no, that's not true. Universal has a bad habit of closing the line early so that everyone *exits* the ride by 8 pm. So, in effect, the "park" really closes an hour early, because the lines are always long. So 7 pm? I get through the line about 10:30, giving about 8 and half hours to do everything in the park. 

But Universal can remedy this situation! For an additional 25 to 35 dollars, you can buy line-hopper tickets! Not a free Fast Pass system like Disney, but an honest-to-goodness book of tickets for purchase.

It's not that I didn't want to ride and experience *everything.* I mean, that would be cool, of course, but not necessary. It's that it would be virtually impossible for anyone to every ride and experience everything under these conditions. Early attraction closure? Never liked it-- even when I was a USJ employee. Give the costumer the full value for his purchase, and close the dang attraction at the Park close. Special line-hopper tickets? It favors those who pay even MORE than general admissions prices, which are already nearly prohibitive for the general public. Plus, I thought we did away with the concept of "E Tickets", etc., with the concept of "General Admission" in the first place!

There was one saving grace-- the single rider line. Most attractions allowed single riders to use the line-hopper/Fast Pass entrance.

Anyway, I got to go. It's Saturday morning and I got errands to run!   

Entering the Park

A whole post on just entering the Park? Dang, I hate being long-winded but, well, I guess maybe I don't.

Universal Studios, like Disneyland, has it's own train station for commuters. But instead of doing that, I decided to retrace my steps and use the route that so many USJ commuters did before the station was created-- to walk a few blocks from Ōsakakō station to a ferry which will shuttle you across and you can walk a few more blocks to the back of the park, the employee entrance.

The moment I even stepped off the station to walk to the ferry, the whole thing was both familiar and new. Familiar in that I never even needed to look twice to check on my route. "Automatical!" New in that the whole are had a facelift. I mean, I can't imagine that USJ would have driven SO much traffic through this back-way route, but something infused a whole bunch of money into the streets, the pavement, the storefronts… The area also holds the Osaka Aquarium and a humungous ferris wheel, both of which had new entrances, street traffic, and more. The park you walked through to the ferry even looked fresh and well-cared for, despite the winter's lack of leaves and vegetation.

At the ferry, I wasn't alone. There were several actors (Australian, of course!) waiting for the ferry, too! I said hello, commenting that I was surprised anyone used this route anymore. Introducing myself, they shared how they lived nearby and commuted, but our conversation was cut short with the arrival of the ferry. They all had bikes, so they said "hey" and rode off, and no one picked up on my subtle hints to crash the backlot area. Actors.

The backside of the park was definitely different, too! They had FOLIAGE! Plants everywhere. After five years, I guess those things really took root. But, there I was at the employee entrance, so I had to walk all the way around to the front. No problem-- I had done it before, right? Ehhhh…. Not so much. Maybe I had done it before as an *employee,* which meant I had shortcuts or something. This was a LONG route. Halfway through, I realized why there were TWO stations for the trains bound for Universal-- one for the public, one for the employees, because they were THAT FAR away. Ugh. It did give me a long glimpse of their newest hotel that just opened-- quite posh.

Finally entering City Walk, and man, that place had changed. Pretty much every floor and every shop was opened, as opposed to the less-than-half-dozen when I left. More time to visit that tonight, because it was time to enter the park--- but then I start to get a bit negative before I get positive again. So that will have to wait til tomorrow.

"Thank You for You"

I had always known I was going to go to Osaka for our four-day break, but it always seemed so far *off*, you know? This resulted in only the most vague and cursory of plans. Basically, the plan was: go to Osaka, visit USJ.

I tried to contact a few people that I knew from working there, but I guess a lot had changed in five years. (I'm as much proof of that as anyone!) So "reconnecting" didn't seem to be in the cards, nor did any special behind-the-scenes moments. I regret now that I wasn't so aggressive in pursuing the latter, but at the time it felt okay, to just experience USJ as any guest would.

Anyway, the first day of our vacation arrived, and I supposed it was time to pack, to clean, and arrange for my time away. Nothing like the last minute, eh? Armed only with a train schedule and list of cheap places to stay, I boarded a late-afternoon bullet train, and arrived in Osaka three hours or so later.

(As an aside, I impressed myself on my last-mintue get-up-and-go, feeling confident that such skills would make me a perfect candidate for the Amazing Race. Until I realized that I didn't grab the Journalism camera and left behind a bag containing my video camera and my "memborabilia" like my old USJ ID card. Not that it would still work, but still…)

Arriving in Osaka, I began my surreal experience. It was fun to see so many familiar things, as there are subtle differences between Tokyo and Osaka, in even the little everyday things like the way the subways work and the way people stand on the escalators. There's a chime everytime the subway arrives-- "subWAY'S comING! SUBway's COMing!" And it was like I already knew my way around the town-- the Midōsuji Line, the Chūō Line, Bentenchō  station, Ōsakakō station, Cosmosquare. How weird it was to see them all again.

It was early evening when I arrived, and the first place I hoped to stay was available. It was pretty cheap, but obviously you get what you pay for. Not that it made for horror stories, thankfully. It was just … quaintly antiquated. No wireless I can understand, but no high speed internet at all? What is this, 2003?!

The place was just across from Osaka Castle, so it had great views, though, and after dropping my bag (I travel light!) I walked the grounds of the castle. Then I hopped the train to get to Cosmosquare-- home of the Asian Trade Center (formerly housing the USJ offices) and the Hyatt Hotel (my former home-away-from-home). I walked through everything, just like I would have if I arrived to punch a clock for USJ-- there was the convenience store, as always; the lobby of the Trade Center, complete with bird chirping piped in and the air tinged with the smell of water from the fountain; the Hyatt lobby and its back entrance, with the escalator to cross to the ATC world-mall. 

So many stores in that ATC mall, now! It's really made a place for itself. The whole area, in fact, was much more built up. There were whole lots of vacant fields that were now filled with multi-storied buildings and, yes, even a stadium out in the distance. But there was still that familiar Italian restaurant, the Korean BBQ, the coffee shop, the Wendy's. I decided to stop at the coffee shop that the USJ often returned to-- it wasn't the for the food, actually, but because it had served as the source of so much laughter, frustrated venting, and shared experiences. It was familiar and funny to see its cash register display the message "Thank You for You" when paying the check. Sadly, the register had been replaced, but the menu also featured those sundaes that I remembered being … funny for some reason. After ordering one, I laughed when I dug my spoon in. That's why it was funny-- one of the layers was corn flakes!

Anyway, it was getting late (9:00!) and stores were closing before I could even refamiliarize myself with them. Was it a new thing that these prices were so low?! (Compared to Tokyo, anyway.) With limited options available, I headed back toward Umeda, home of the sprawling underground mall that serves pretty much as the hub of Osaka. That, too, seemed to be closing down around me, so I just packed it all up and headed back to the castle-hotel. The next day would be … Universal Studios! 

"O-saka, My Saka!"

Okay, I've been promising an update on my little weekend trip to Osaka the other week, but it's taken me some time to process the whole experience. Too many mixed emotions? My unfortunate tendency to think too deeply? Both?

On one hand, it was very fun to go and visit a city and a theme park that had such an impact on me. My time in Osaka and Universal Studios Japan (the two can be used interchangeably in my mind) proved to be a culmination of my career, a turning point, and a quest, however Quixotic, fulfilled. I can remember how momentous it felt to be leaving Osaka in 2001. So on the other hand, to re-visit it again was like seeing a childhood friend from long ago-- he may have remained largely the same, but you were such a different person that there was no way you could rekindle that same connection. "You can't go home again," they say. I know why. It's like walking through the pages of a photo album.

So I'll type up my experiences and post them in little bits throughout the week. That way I don't feel like I have to type a huge long post all at once. Who writes 500-word essays anymore? (Speaking of which, I have to go now to assign my students some writing homework.)